Brief Pre-Surgery Blood Cutoff May Aid Heart

Cutting off blood supply to the arm, briefly, before heart surgery may improve survival by reducing injury to the heart. That’s the conclusion of the first study to look at results of the technique after a year. The study included more than 300 people who were scheduled to have heart bypass surgery. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. People in the first group received remote ischemic preconditioning. Right after they received anesthesia for surgery, a blood pressure cuff was applied to one upper arm. The cuff was inflated and kept in place for 5 minutes to restrict blood supply to the arm. Then it was removed for 5 minutes. This was done 3 times in a row before surgery. The other group did not have preconditioning. Three days after surgery, researchers measured troponin, a protein that indicates heart muscle damage.